This watchdog blog, by journalist Norman Oder, offers analysis, commentary, and reportage about the $4.9 billion project to build the Barclays Center arena and 16 high-rise buildings at a crucial site in Brooklyn. Dubbed Atlantic Yards by developer Forest City Ratner in 2003, it was rebranded Pacific Park in 2014 after the Chinese government-owned Greenland Group bought a 70% stake in 15 towers. New York State still calls it Atlantic Yards. Contact: AtlanticYardsReport[at]hotmail.com

Saturday, August 06, 2011

The percentage of New York Daily News readers who can afford an apartment in Forest City Ratner's Beekman Tower (aka 8 Spruce Street aka New York by Gehry) is rather low--only 13.7% have six-figure incomes, and you need more than $100,000 to afford monthly rents of $3040 for a studio--and a lot more for bigger apartments.

Ratner, the building’s developer, dressed in a simple, short-sleeved, pinstriped button down and black pants, is not like other developers who give cities $800 million projects like this one. He’s charming because he’s smart. He’s admirable because he gets things done. He’s controversial because he thinks big. Best of all, he’s human.

“I was riding the elevator the other day, and the person riding up with me kept thanking me,” says Ratner, who developed MetroTech pushing Brooklyn as America’s top downtown destination 25 years ago. “He wasn’t thanking me because he loved living there or loved the building; he was thanking me for the job. A job is the beginning and end of how a person feels about themself. I am thankful we can give jobs, and I’m thankful what this building means to lower Manhattan.”

(Emphases added)

Um, Ratner didn't "give" the project to New York. Rather, Ratner took advantage of Liberty Bonds, allowing tax-free financing without the attendant requirement of affordable housing.

As for the jobs Ratner "gives," well, some Brooklynites are not convinced.

By the way, the article contains no mention of architect Frank Gehry's role in--and removal from--Atlantic Yards.